HCL Technologies, a huge global company based in India, selected Jackson for a Michigan office to employ 300 to 500 people. The company signed a contract to do computer work for Consumers Energy last fall, and by all accounts Consumers encouraged it to choose Jackson for the Michigan office.

Sometimes I am a sappy optimist, but this seems like good news for Jackson. I was surprised when some people claimed it's actually bad. They had three basic arguments. I will summarize those points and facts behind them.

Argument One predicts a net job loss. Consumers has 500 employees in its computer department and 260 contractors. That’s 760 workers compared to 300 to 500 for HCL Technologies.

Fact: Assuming any job loss is just that, an assumption. Consumers Energy says its computer department will not be eliminated and no one will be laid off. The number of computer jobs may decline over time -- that's the direction the entire company has headed for years, anyway -- but no one knows by how much.

Argument Two says HCL Technologies will hire people from India who will take their money back to India.

Fact: HCL Technologies says most jobs will go to “local technology professionals," which means Americans. But even if people from India fill every position, those people will live around Jackson and spend money around Jackson. They will need groceries and furniture and cars and everything else people need.

Argument Three says HCL Technologies is coming to Jackson because it won’t pay taxes, and taxpayers are shafted again.

Fact: The company looks to be in line for 12 years without paying personal property taxes on equipment. State government threw money into the pot, too, which presumably would happen no matter where the firm located in Michigan. HCL Technologies will not pay property taxes because it will not own property. It intends to lease space at the Commonwealth Commerce Center.

Here’s the big question in response to all three arguments: How would anything be better if HCL Technologies and its 300 to 500 jobs went somewhere else?

Tax breaks, outsourcing and potential job losses at Consumers Energy will happen no matter where HCL Technologies puts its office.

Bringing the firm to Jackson is the best-case scenario for the city. I am just gullible enough to believe best-case scenarios are good.